By SHUAIB SADIQ

Absentee civil servants and political appointees in Zamfara risk losing their pay, Gov. Bello Matawalle has warned.

The governor already directed the Ministry of Finance to withhold salaries of staff until respective Commissioners and Permanent Secretaries in each ministry endorsed the exact number of staff who report to work regularly.

He observed that the state’s civil service was full of anomalies that had rendered it as resource guzzler without commensurate returns.

He added that the civil service was bloated with absentee staff that had become a burden to government resources.

The governor admonished civil servants to adhere to their work ethics or have their salaries stopped.

Matawalle also noted that political appointees were not contributing to efforts at addressing security challenges in the state.

“I wonder how a political appointee will shun his people at the grassroots by being incommunicado while bandits have informants all around and are having upper hand against us.

“I employed you to have your telephones accessible to all your people so that we can effectively monitor what is happening at the grassroots as it happens or even before it happens.

“We must listen to the people at the grassroots at all times, especially on issues that border on security,’’ Matawalle stressed.

The governor’s charges were contained in a statement issued by Zailani Bappa, his Special Adviser on Public Enlightenment, Media and Communications in Gusau on Tuesday.

Matawalle spoke when he hosted members of the state’s Executive Council, Special Advisers, Chairmen of Boards and Parastatals to break the Ramadan fast. (NAN)